CBS chief Leslie Moonves at the network's "upfront" presentation at Lincoln Center in New York on May 16.(Photo: Evan Agostini, AP)
CBS has unveiled its game plan for covering the Feb. 3 Super Bowl
action, and also disclosed that it's practically out of commercial time
for the Big Game.
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"We
are sold out," CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves said during a CBS media
event on Tuesday. But he did leave a bit of wiggle room for last-minute
advertisers who wanted to buy time in the game, saying that the network
still had the ability to meet late sales requests.
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He also said that some 30-second ad units sold for more than $4 million each.
"These numbers are the highest ever paid for Super Bowl spots," Moonves said.
Big
Game advertisers include car makers, soft-drink producers, fast-food
companies and sportswear firms. Pepsi, Toyota, Anheuser-Busch ,
GoDaddy, Lincoln, and Skechers are among the many in the game.
Moonves
said local TV ad sales were robust as well. In the New York market --
where both the Jets and the Giants didn't even make it to the playoffs
-- some 30-second ad slots on WCBS sold for more than $1 million each.
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Moonves pointed out the large, engaged Super Bowl audience, and said that for many, Super Sunday is a national holiday.
It's "truly extraordinary" what this event means to America, he said.
For
its Super Bowl XLVII coverage, the network is pulling together
resources from its sports, news and entertainment divisions.
Programming -- which will begin the week before the Big Game -- will not
only focus on the actual Super Bowl, but also on the cuisine,
architecture and culture of the game's host city New Orleans.
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Content
will run on platforms such as broadcast TV, cable TV, radio and
digital. The halftime show will be shown on TV as well as streamed
live.
At Tuesday's media presentation, CBS media executives and
sports announcers kept the atmosphere light, frequently joking around
and poking fun of one another.
At one point during the event, the name of this year's Super Bowl's halftime performer -- Beyoncé Knowles -- came up.
Moonves
was quick to jump in with his own joshing commentary: "I actually
wanted Janet Jackson," he said, referring back to Jackson's
controversial halftime show of 2004 when she had an infamous
breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction."
CBS aired the Super Bowl
that year, and took some heat for the mishap. The Supreme Court found
the Federal Communications Commission erred in trying to penalize the
network and ordered the $550,000 fine refunded in full.
USA Today